Adventure Magazine Cover — page 113: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Treasure “TI will shoot,” said Denasso, warningly. “You’ll be hung—all you!” “‘T will shoot!” said Denasso, and put both hands to the gun. “If you move—” Captain Scott swore helplessly. The Chinese, at the first sound of the fight, had drawn his arm and the knife that he had concealed there, from the sling that had made his left arm appear injured; then, like a man accustomed to think mm the midst of excitement, he had unshipped the sea- ladder, dropping it overboard. This Chinese was not like any other man these men had ever fought; it was as if he had eyes on every side of his head; and it was at times as if he had two butcher knives, so rapidly did he change the knife from one hand to the other. He was as wary as a Cat, as quick, and fought all over the deck. But now two sailors, who had run forward into the galley, caught up a knife and cleaver, came out and made for him as a third sailor jumped into the rigging and clawed himself aloft to be clear of the yel- low devil. At the same moment, from somewhere, Old Tom appeared, empty-handed, swear- ing breathlessly. The flabby planter had bolted through a door of the after deck- house and disappeared, though Tom had wasted precious seconds running from room to room. Raeburn, drunkenly determined to find him, was still there. VI HEN Heddon had landed on Pe- lew, Pelew tried to shoot him; and as they struggled, flounder- ing about the deck, the gun was discharged time and again; and when empty, Heddon got to his feet, jumped back: “You murderous fool! I said no killing!”’ “Tl kill you!’ Pelew shouted, and threw the empty gun at Heddon’s face, and rushed. Grappling, they went down together on the wet deck. Almost mouth to mouth, Heddon growled— “Have I got to kill you?” Pelew with curses answered— “You can’t, you dirty On his feet, Heddon could have knocked Pelew down as often as he came up; but down together it was another sort of strug- gle, for Pelew fought with arms, legs, feet, and butted with his head. ? II! Heddon again fought himself free and arose: “You blasted lunatic! Let’s take this ship —then fight it out if you —” ‘the ship! You ——!” And the untamable Pelew came at him again. Old Tom had been bowled over by a back- handed swipe from the meat cleaver, and rolling over in a daze, like drunkenness, saw that the Chinese was now cornered against the bulwark amidships, hemmed in by three men, two better armed than he, and the third had snatched up a belaying pin that lay where it had been thrown by some one. Mr. Blake and the sailor with him, who had evaded Abdul by climbing in over the bows, paused to grasp capstan bars from their racks on the forecastle; and as they ran over the deck to help strike down the Chinaman, Mr. Blake slowed down just long enough to knock Old Tom over again as he was rising. Heddon, taking all this in at a glance, now ran as # running from Pelew, and smashed into the half circle about the Chinaman. Heddon wrenched away the bar from the sailor who had come over the bow with Mr. Blake and knocked the sailor over, but was himself hit, chopped at, badly knocked about, and with blood streaming from him, he swung his back to the bulwark beside the Chinaman whose brittle knife blade had snapped on wood— on Mr. Blake’s bar—as he slashed rapidly, helping Heddon. Mr. Blake, having shown the way, more men were coming in over the bark’s bow while along the bark’s side some of the other men were climbing out of the water on the ropes, and jeering Abdul, pretending to be about to climb up and and over; and so they kept Abdul watching them while their mates were getting up on the deck, unnoticed. Even Walscher was staggering to his feet, with a kind of blurred uncertainty staring about. Denasso had looked aside at the growing tumult, and Captain Scott knocked up his arm. The gun fell. Scott reached for it; Denasso kicked it, and sent it spinning. Scott turned about to run for it and ran into Pelew, who was all over him in a minute. Denasso himself recovered the gun, but looked about anxiously, not knowing what to do. Heddon, poised with the bar club-like, COMICOOokKS Cc (C@